Exeter teacher is semifinalist for teacher of the year

EXETER — Exeter High School English teacher Kristina Peterson has moved into the semifinals for the New Hampshire Department of Education's tenth Teacher of the Year award celebration.

Corinne Holroyd

EXETER — Exeter High School English teacher Kristina Peterson has moved into the semifinals for the New Hampshire Department of Education's tenth Teacher of the Year award celebration.

Principal Sean Kiley received the e-mail announcing Peterson's advancement into the top eight teachers in the state on Tuesday night.

"The kids are really fired up," Peterson said. "I give a lot of credit to my students; I wouldn't be here without them."

The advancement comes after an April 8 reception for the 33 nominees in Concord. Both Peterson and Kiley attended, but Peterson said she "didn't really know what to expect" from the trip.

The reception acted as a networking session, with three hours of discussing teaching techniques and ideas, as well as interviews with the selection committee for the award.

"I had unique and different conversations with all of them," she said. "Some just said, 'Tell me why you're here.'"

The nominees were encouraged to bring a display board with their students' or their work to show the committee. Peterson said her students got into the spirit and she was able to bring a board filled with their opinions about why she should win.

According to Kiley, hers was the only board with student input.

"I've been hearing about her since my first day (at EHS)," Kiley said. "The kids want to be a part of what she's been a part of."

Kiley said that he believes she can win, and even said during the nominee reception that he knew she would get into the top eight.

"I was feeling very confident she would make it through to the semifinals," he said.

"He kept saying that through lunch," Peterson added as Kiley talked about the lasagna.

Kiley said that Peterson has been a successful teacher because of the different experiences she has brought to the school, including when she invited author Stephen King to the school to sit in on class last year. This led to him reading from his book for her class and later to read to the entire school.

Peterson will soon go into the next part of the process, where the selection committee will come to EHS to observe her and talk to students about how she has impacted them.

"She might not even know how she has impacted them," Kiley said.

Kiley said the committee gave them four dates to choose from for the visit and that EHS is looking at May 19.

"I'm proud to have them here," he said. "I'm proud of the school, I'm proud of the students and I'm proud of Kristina," he said.

If the team does end up visiting on May 19, it'll be exactly one year since Stephen King came to visit because of Peterson's actions.

"That's what the other teachers are up against," Kiley said. "That's the difference between Kristina and other teachers: She took a risk."

Kiley said she is "up against some really great teachers" ranging from elementary to high school educators.

If Peterson wins teacher of the year, she will follow in the footsteps of Pinkerton Academy social studies teacher Joseph Lee, who won the award last year.

Lee gave a speech at the nomination ceremony and said that the winner gets a small classroom grant and will travel around the state and country to speak to fellow educators.

This includes traveling to Washington, D.C. to compete for the national teacher of the year award.

"It's more than just a $7 plaque," Kiley said. "It's the beginning of a national competition."

If Peterson wins the state award, Peterson would get to speak in front of other national nominees and selection committees in the nation's capital, then bring what she learns back to Exeter.

The Department of Education sent out an application for nominations in the fall, and Peterson was nominated by a parent, who wishes to remain anonymous.

In order to get into the competition, Peterson had to write an essay and get letters of recommendation from her peers; but now, Kiley said, Peterson "can kind of sit back" and wait for the meeting with the selection committee.

"Just being nominated has been the pinnacle of my career," she said. "This is on a whole other level; this is speaking for the profession as a whole."

The winner of the N.H. teacher of the year will be announced in August.

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